


Cloudy With A Chance Of Kisses

by adrift_me



Series: Merlin Prompt Fics [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash, Rain, Umbrellas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-21
Packaged: 2018-03-31 14:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3981340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrift_me/pseuds/adrift_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur really had to forget his umbrella this time. Perhaps, it wasn't such a bad idea after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cloudy With A Chance Of Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> My second AU prompt fic for Merlin universe! A very cliche Arthur and a cliche Merlin, but I enjoyed it anyway.
> 
> "I forgot an umbrella and you saved me in the rain" AU prompt, found on Tumblr.

It’s been a week of the most unstable weather Arthur had ever seen. Mornings were sunny and bright, afternoons turned into a rainy nightmare, sometimes with lightnings and hail. Every day Arthur had to play a guessing game “Will It Rain Or Not”? He even brought a second umbrella to the office, putting it at the most visible spot.

On Thursday he lost the game. While Arthur was in the office, meddling with papers, arguing with his sister Morgana, flirting with his friend Gwen, sun softly lit the streets outside. The sky was clear blue, not a single cloud visible. People bought ice creams and lemonades, children ran around the park, which Arthur’s windows were facing. He glanced outside and sighed. Perhaps, he could take a walk through the city. Arthur pressed the button on the phone and dismissed the driver.

Suddenly the door opened and a woman in a dark teal suit appeared on the threshold, fixing pins in her black updo.

“Brother dear, don’t forget your umbrella,” grinned Morgana, lowering her hands and turning to look in the mirror that hang near the door. Arthur regarded her with rolled eyes. He couldn’t forget his umbrella, it was staring him right in the face from a small coffee table at the door. Moreover, he didn’t even need it on such a sunny day.

“Open your eyes, Morgana. It’s sunny! Sun, brightness, warmth, clear sky! Do you think it will start raining the moment I step outside?” Arthur gestured towards the window. The woman shrugged and gave him a “you-will-see” smirk.

“One day you will start listening to weather forecasts, Arthur,” she smiled at him and left, closing the door carefully.

“Like I need reminding,” murmured Arthur, throwing some papers in a case and zipping it. He slid out of his suit jacket and changed his white shirt to a simple T-shirt, throwing the jacket back.

He left the building quite quickly, trying to avoid some of his employees, who might have hung some unnecessary job on his shoulders. He managed to escape Gwaine, who was waiting for him at the elevator. Arthur knew perfectly well that his friend wanted to get him to the pub. But Arthur swore to himself that he wouldn’t dare going to a pub on Thursday nights, especially with Gwaine. After his last encounter with extra beer and a very important meeting the next day, he shivered even at the thought of going to a pub with Gwaine whose life ambition seemed to be getting Arthur in as many uncomfortable situations as possible.

As there was no driver waiting at the building entrance, Arthur fixed his suit jacket and made his way through the busy London street.

When he turned round one of the corners, he let out a desperate groan. There was a dark cloud hanging over far buildings. Arthur groaned again, when he felt no umbrella loop over his wrist, where he used to hold it. Of all misfortunes, this one had to happen to him. He could hear Morgana’s laughter already in his head.

It was hardly ten minutes later, when the dark storm clouds caught up with Arthur. Rain started slowly, with a few large drops hitting the road. By seconds it increased, dangerously turning into a real spring shower. Arthur pressed his lips together and looked around in search of a temporary shelter. As ill luck would have it, the last bus stop was on the other street. He had no chance but to either run back or try and hide in one of the cheap cafés.

All of a sudden the rain stopped. Something dark appeared over Arthur’s golden haired head, dark and umbrella-shaped. He turned his head and faced his saviour.

“Thought you would do with some help,” said the stranger, holding his large black umbrella over Arthur’s and his own head. “Where are you heading? I’ll walk you.”

“I’m not a dog to be “walked,” you know,” gritted Arthur, even if he felt grateful for some cover over his head. He might escape Morgana’s teasing that was certainly awaiting him.

“Oh, sorry! If I knew you were a prat, I wouldn’t have offered my help,” said the stranger with a grin. Arthur laughed in awe and looked at him again.

The stranger was a young man in shabby clothes. Arthur would have thrown or given it away, had his own clothing turned into this. The stranger’s hair were wet and rain was dripping down his side hair locks, despite having an umbrella. His ears were sticking out in a funny way and his face was brightened with a brilliant grin, that neither went along with his accusations nor with the weather.

“You can’t call me a prat! You don’t even know me.”

“I need to know someone to call them a prat?” asked the stranger. Arthur still kept close by him, as they walked, shoulders brushing. It was one of the strangest meetings he’d ever had, walking shoulder by shoulder with someone and bickering about calling a person a prat. Apparently the young man thought the same, as he laughed and shook his head.

“I am Merlin, by the way,” he introduced himself.

“My name is Arthur,” said young Pendragon without turning his head to look at Merlin.

“Arthur as in an ungrateful prat?” said Merlin with a brilliant grin. Arthur looked at him incredulously.

“No! Arthur as in Pendragon. Do you always talk like this to strangers?”

“Only to you.”

“What makes me so special to deserve such an attitude?” chuckled Arthur, now looking at the young man by his side.

“Your face,” simply said Merlin, fixing a hold on his umbrella.

“What about it?”

Merlin only smiled at him and continued walking. Arthur quickened his pace and pushed Merlin with his shoulder. He pushed back. Arthur was suddenly several years younger, as if he returned to school. He had to suppress an urge to pull Merlin’s backpack, which he didn’t have, or push his shoulder even harder.

“So, Arthur Pendragon, why would a man in such a suit walk without an umbrella?” asked Merlin. They both slowed their pace down, while rain seemed to intensify.

“It was sunny fifteen minutes ago,” replied Arthur, squinting.

“I mean, why are you even walking home?”

“Oh, this. I decided to take a walk and sent my driver away,” shrugged young Pendragon. “Sometimes I enjoy walking around the city, helps me take my mind off of bad thoughts.”

“I like doing it too,” agreed Merlin, glancing at his acquaintance. “What are you then at work?”

“Well, they call me a boss’s son, Morgana’s baby brother, sometimes even a heartless git, but generally I’m known as the CEO. It’s my father’s company, it’s hard to stay a kind and listening boss with such a roof about you. This roof tends to call you every day at least twice and assure you of the uselessness of half of your employees,” rambled Arthur without holding himself back. It’s been a long time since he had talked to anyone about his job without hiding facts. He couldn’t tell his friends, for most of them were the very same employees. He couldn’t tell his family for almost the same reasons. But Merlin was nothing but a stranger, who would disappear from his life just in a few minutes.

“I am sorry to hear that,” said Merlin. “I’ve never been a CEO or had employees, but I suppose you feel bad about it. I mean, obviously you do. Family business is such a thing...”

“Right. And what do you, Merlin-not-a-CEO, do?”

“Working at the antique shop,” said Merlin, his eyes sparkling with love to work. “We have all sorts of things. Old coins, books, lots of brass, paintings. One guy even brought us a sword!”

“Sounds great,” said Arthur, having doubts about his interest in antique stuff. They had a lot at home, old vases and tapestries, some china from years back and much more. Arthur’s father had long forgotten about the cost of these things and Morgana had never cared about them. Neither had Arthur, in fact. “And where is your store located?”

“Ah, just where you met me,” grinned Merlin. Arthur remembered passing by a large window, where a variety of antiques was set out.

“Correction, you came up to me with your umbrella.”

“No problem, I still can take it away,” smiled Merlin and moved the umbrella from over Arthur’s head. His hair, shoulders were immediately showered with cold drops.

“Fine, fine,” Arthur raised his hands defeated and stepped back under the umbrella. Merlin looked at him, his eyes moving from his lips to eyes. “Your sufferings are soon to end. My house is right round this corner.”

He pointed at the roof of a reasonably high house.

“This is where I leave you then,” said Merlin.

Rain had nearly stopped now, only a few drops watering the street. Merlin lowered his umbrella, shook it violently and closed it.

“Yeah, it’s time you did,” teased Arthur. “I can call you the taxi, if you want.”

“No, thanks, I’ll take the tube,” Merlin shook his head. “Will you hold it for me?”

He thrust the wet umbrella into Arthur’s hands, showering him with rain drops. He bent down to fix the shoelaces on his shabby shoes.

“Well, see you!” said Merlin cheerfully, straightening up. He looked at Arthur who smiled at him uncertainly, their eyes fixed in a close contact. Merlin grinned again and quickly walked away.

“This is an overstatement!” cried Arthur in Merlin’s back. The young man looked around and winked. Arthur smiled at him stupidly, but it was a happy smile. What was it, what had happened half an hour ago? He shook his head. He still had Merlin’s wet umbrella, held tight in his hand.

 

***

 

Merlin sat on a creaking chair at the counter, cleaning a new brass vase. It had a very fine design with curvy bulging lines. Merlin moved his finger along them, studying the pattern.

A doorbell rang and a courier appeared on the doorstep, holding a relatively large box. He was panting, the box weighing down his hands. Merlin quickly gestured towards a desk, where the box was put.

“Please, sign this, sir,” smiled the courier man and handed a board to Merlin. He quickly scratched his signature and watched the man go.

Merlin leaned over the box. It had no signs, no labels, just a plain box. He frowned, as he didn’t expect anything. People sometimes sent him items, but never before they were anonymous. He curiously pulled out a paper knife and cut the box.

Inside he found one of the ugliest clay vases in the entire shop. It’s shape was good but the design could horrify even a simple collector. It looked as if a clawed monster scratched it deep, leaving uneven rips. Merlin turned the vase round itself and sighed. No one would ever buy it. He’ll probably throw it out and his boss, Gaius, won’t even notice.

Merlin’s eye was caught by a post-it note, sticked to the inner side of the vase.

“I want to see when exactly my family notices a vase gone. Arthur”

Merlin laughed and hid the sticky note in a desk drawer.

 

***

 

Funny antique submissions kept arriving the next week. Merlin received a small painting, two sets of silver and a fantastically ugly chair. All of them had a sticky note with some messages. Arthur tried his best to tell Merlin that he sent these items just to annoy his family and not to cheer Merlin up.

On Friday evening, when the sky was purely clear and not a single cloud spotted it, Merlin was sitting at the desk, an old radio that he fixed playing a tune. The young man turned the volume down a bit and looked out of the window, swaying on a chair. He was waiting for a weather forecast for the weekend.

“Hey Dave, what’s the weather like today?” said one of the cheerful radio voices. The other one, Dave’s, followed.

“Oh, Johnny, you’d better keep this jacket off. It looks like we are in for a hot day!”

Merlin had to turn the volume down completely, as a shadow appeared in the shop’s door, the bell rang and a young man stepped inside the antique shop. It was the courier from the first day of Arthur’s items. He had a very confused face as he handed a short black umbrella to Merlin.

“No need to sign for this,” he said, his brow arched. “Bye, sir.”

Merlin nodded a goodbye and watched the man leave. Then he looked over the umbrella. It was expensive, it’s handle made of fine wood, polished and varnished, its cloth thick and pleasant on touch. Inside Merlin found another sticky note.

“You have left your old umbrella with me. I thought you would do with a new one. I think it needs walking! What about 7PM tonight? Arthur”

Merlin smiled. And they said they were in for a hot day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> For any questions, typo reports and suggestions, please contact me on [Tumblr](http://accio-toffy.tumblr.com/)


End file.
